11.26.16
Summary The characters explored mightily to discover the hole in the world, where they met two other characters. They deciphered many clues and took only the correct paths, defeating the succubus, Cerena, by force. No one was fooled into entering a room with her alone. In the following room, Tonans lost two fingers, the middle two on his left hand, in order to pass the trial of pain and loss. In Blaine's room, the characters correctly solved the puzzle of the primes and entered into the chamber of Lolth, the spider queen of the Drow. She recognized Dr. Bratwurst as one of her children, but an unfaithful one. Upon realizing what would be asked of them to leave, Bratwurst engaged the two redshirts, and was joined by the remainder of the party in defeating them. Only Torment stayed clear. Lolth devoured one of the travelers, then, after Tonans beheaded the other, snacked on his head. The characters left that level of the tower shaken and upset. They find themselves outside the cultist camp, but safely hidden in order to take a long rest. Session Outline #The Hole in the World, The Wind through the Keyhole #*After regrouping, each character makes a perception check. Any with a 15 or higher notices a slight crack in the eastern wall of the ambush site, and with a bit of further inspection can find a door. #*Detect magic will reveal that part of the rock wall is a facade, and nearby is an inscription, in infernal runes: The Hole in the World; The Infernal Wind Through the Keyhole #*Upon a character reading this aloud, a keyhole appears in the door. #**Should Torment breathe into the keyhole, a doorway appears. It is pitch black, and even those with nightvision cannot penetrate its depths. #**If characters do not seem interested, they begin to hear voices calling for help very faintly in the vicinity of the door. #*The instant someone touches the doorway, they disappear. #*If all characters go through, begin the next section #Beyond the Doorway #*Characters find themselves in a dimly lit room, with one door on the northern wall. The room is roughly 20x20 and has dark tapestries lining the walls, each depicting the torment of humans, elves, and dwarves. #*On the western wall sits a huge ritual altar, atop which lies a half-orc male (ADAM), bound and gagged. Tied at the foot of the altar is JUSTIN, unconscious. Near Adam is a huge ritual knife and a chalice of deep red wine. Near them both, the stiffening body of a drow, clutching his chest. In a pack is rope of the same type binding the PCs #*The rest of the room looks to be dedicated as some sort of chapel, though the chairs appear to be made of bone and no discernible god is venerated. #**Near the north door, a hand-scrawled note reads: ::::: Heironymous, : The western wind carries the seeds of hope : Through three seasons : A feersum endjinn plumbs destructions depths : At the Falls of the Hounds : : The Mono drifts, despairing, : Betrayed by a southern storm. : A northern refuge in the end of days : Redemption lies at the foot of blood's sacrifice : - L * Rooms **The room beyond the doorway is a vast cavern, with a torchlit paths continuing north. At the far end, about 100 ft away, lies a doorway. Characters with darkvision can also make out doors in the darkened eastern and western walls. The room has stalactites and stalacmites and drips with moistures. Any character that inspects the formation finds that the liquid is blood. **Any wrong choice (other than west, west, west, north) results in a irritating clang, from which each character must make a DC 15 CON saving throw. Characters that fail take 1 mental damage and are disoriented, unable to tell which door through which they entered. Characters may take a short rest in any wrong room ***Additionally, characters roll on the following table: ***#7 Skeletons arise and attack ***#Two torches adorn each of the four doors in this room. Otherwise, there is a rough-hewn table in the center with 6 chairs. As soon as the party examines the table, the walls begin to close in. T he walls begin to close in on the characters, who must find and open a chest (DC 15 to pick DC18 to smash) with a key. The North and South walls move, and removing the NE torch will stop the movement. Under the SE leg of the table is a key that will open any door in the room. The room is 15x15 and the walls move 5 ft per minute. ***#2 Quasit Demons ***#A muddy room with sticky floors, 20x20. Upon entry, 16 manes demons arise from the muck. ***# A deck of cards lies on a small, circular table. A mote near the deck reads: ***#*Wrong again! take a card to decide your fate! ***#*Once characters are dealt a card, the lowest suffers d4 damage and all doors open. ***#A room that appears as an open field, with no doors in sight. A fountain sits in the middle of the forest clearing. Any character who drimks from the fountain gains d6 HP. Each successive visit heals d6-1, d6-2, etc. The fountain only works once per entry to the room. To open the room, characters must explore the edges and find that the room is an illusion. After one touches a wall, (25 ft from the entry point in any direction), the illusionb fades, thought he fountain is still present. **Correct choices are announced by a chime, and must be made successively, and the following rooms occur: **#The players enter a room decorated lavishly and laid out for a large dinner party. Around the table sit 8 kobolds, gnawing away at meats of undetermined variety. At the head of the table, a beautiful woman, Cerena, holds court, drinking from a wine goblet and demurely eating with manners her kobold entourage fails to posess. She attempts to seduce the party into eating with her, chairs appearing to seat the party. If the choose to eat, they can immediately see that the meat they are served is on human bones. Any who eat before noticing this will one day face repercussions of something along a wendigo line. A player may make a check to determine that this creature is not a woman, but a succubus, attempting to lure them into her charms. Cerena has the same stats as a normal succubus, but onyl 50 HP and her draining kiss can only take half the player's hp, 1/4 on a failed save. **#A room draped in deep red, velvet. In the center, a golden altar adorned by a massive, cruel spider idol. Upon the altar, a box reminiscent of that which Dr. Bratwurst inserted his hand into. If a character puts his or her hand into the box, they feel four buttons, one under each finger. When a button is pressed, the characters hear a faint snick, and that finger is severed. Character takes d4 damage. All doors unlock **#The characters enter a tiled room, each tile approximately 1 ft square. In the center of the room is a pedastal onto which are buttons of the numbers. Send the google doc to the players. Inscribed below the control panel is the following: **## To All Destinations: Entry to the line requires that the pump is primed. But this pump primes backwards Blaine is coming. Warning: Stops at Dasherville and Topeka are off line consult your map for alternate routes. **##Every 30 seconds-1minute, or every incorrect button press, 4 tiles fall from the floor, revealing a sucking void beneath the floor. **## **##Upon success, all four doors open, with highlighted destinations about each door. East: Dasherville. West: Topeka. North: Lolth. South: Lud. **#In this room, a gigantic spider, Lolth, demon lord of the Drow, resides. She turns and speaks directly into the minds of those surviving. She expected her servant, Heironymous to be the one coming to her, but finds some evil glee in the party having made it this far. She decides to devour them all, but can be persuaded to a different course through any character's supplication or outright begging. In the end, she appreciates their pluck, and regards Dr. Bratwurst highly, and even offers two boons to the party. The first is a +1 short sword. The second, a Gambler's deck, which is marked in a pattern only the owner can understand. It takes one hour of concentration to bind to the deck, and afterwards the owner has advantage in all gambling when using this deck. Lolth demands sacrifice, however, and asks for the lives of two party members. If they do not volunteer, Lolth forces ADAM and JUSTIN to be bound to two posts in the center of the room. She forces the party to bind them. In quick succession, she bites the head off of JUSTIN, and blood rolls down his body, still held upright. Lolth then asks if one of the party will give mercy of death to ADAM. If no one does, she breaks the short sword and eats him herself. After this, she disappears, leaving one portal door to the north end of the room. It reads: Outworld, The Keyhole Filled : 3. Outworld, The Keyhole Filled *Like the first door, each adventurer who touches the doorway disappears, and the party finds itself looking over the camp of the Cult of the Dragon. They each may heal one hit die without using one. #Camp *Over 150 people. *Three groups of mercs, and the cultists have donned black flared leather, thoiugh some still wear their brown robes, particularly those who appear to be busy workking in the camp. **Group 1: Saviors (20). They are identified by large earrings in the left ear, regardless of race. Particularly vicious, the Saviors are headed my a rough-and-tumble man who wields a spiked club. He goes by the name Nolan, but the general idea hear is that they are in it for the money, and the fighting. They have an ongoing fight club that they will allow characters to participate in for a price (5G, with a 15G prize for winning 2 matches). Use dragonclaw (Mighty Whitey) for first battle, and Jamna Gleamsilver (The Black Mass for battle 2. Hit points are regained between fights. ***This is the only group that will not raise an alarm at the sight of the Drow. ****Winning the fight club against the Saviors grants favor with Nolan, who will then recognize them from Greenest pledge to leave them to their business. All he cares about is the money. **Group 2: The Walking Fred (30). Led by a dwarven male named Fred, these mercenaries are hired for their willingness to go to great lengths. They have travelled many miles with the Cult, and have gained esteem. They also have to work most of the camp cleanup jobs, such as latrine duty and cooking. They wear their brown cloaks, but adorned with blue tricorn hats in camp to signify them. ***Many of these are becoming devoted to the cult, and are particularly keen to get in the good graces of the cultists. They are suspicious of outsiders and will question those who are new. All are hoping for their opportunity to join the cult proper, as Fred only seems interested in walking (like, a real fitness nut). ***If convinced that the party should be there, they will recruit two (Tonitrus and Torment) for duty digging a neew latrine on the northern corner of the camp. This is down the valley at the NE of the map. The smell is terrible, but the two can catch a glimpse of the main encampment of the cult leaders and the entrance to the cave. Additionally, they can see the prisoner, and that while guarded close to the front of the section, there is a long distance from them to Ereven himself. There is ample opportunity to sneak away during this assignment. ***The Walking Fred do not approve of the tactics of the Saviors, and will be more welcoming of the party if they have previously not gone along with or agreed to demands by Nolan. **Group 3: Guild of Guilders (18). These are interested in buying and selling, and raiding the extra is how they have joined the cultists in pay. They were sleeves adorned with golden colorted cuffs. They press the party members for buying and selling their items, and sell them supposed magical items that are utterly worthless, even as basic goods. It's all garbage. They will also try to recruit party members to join them, and will extort the party to not raise an alarm at the discovery of Dr. Bratwurst. ***They ask party members to steal from the other merc groups and the cultists. If they do, the Guild promises to do a favor, and can get them 5-10 minutes alone with the prisoners, or some other task. **The rest, cultists of various rank. All in camp know where the prisoners are held,